Shadows
by CarolineLikesCombustileLemons
Summary: Caroline miscalculated. He was supposed to go to her best employee. Not a curious girl. Wheatley made a mistake. He wants to apologize to Chell about it. But how can he apologize if he doesn't know where she is? GLaDOS is malfunctioning. There's no other possible reason of why she can't delete Caroline. Unless Caroline wasn't lying about GlaDOS's origins...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Apple

_It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards. _

~ Lewis Carroll

For Chell, life was depressing.

After GLaDOS released her from Aperture, she started to run. She tried her hardest to outrun all of her problems, her worries, and him.

Wheatley.

She didn't realize how much she liked him until he was gone.

She missed the snippets of encouragement. She missed his idiotic speeches. She missed his blue optic, which was always a friendly sight.

She had taken it all for granted. And now, he was gone.

He was stranded in space, with that other core, who was crazy about outer space.

Tears felled from her face, and she stopped. She threw herself into the wheat. That made her cry harder, for wheat was his namesake.

Wheatley.

She wanted to kick herself for being so stupid. How could have she had thought that Wheatley wouldn't become corrupt from Her mainframe? Wheatley was quite friendly, but that made him vulnerable.

Vulnerable enough to become corrupted.

And she didn't do anything to prevent it.

It was all her fault.

She led him to his doom.

She grabbed her companion cube, and laid down in her little bed of wheat. The stream of tears running down her face, eventually slowed into a occasional drip. Her sobs became quieter, until they ended up as soft breaths. Her heartbeat slowed down and the ex- test subject felled asleep.

She woke up a few hours later. Her throat was tight and her stomach was making noises. Her crotch area was very sensitive and she cried out in pain.

She never had to find her own food and water in Aperture. But then, this wasn't Aperture. This was the real world where people had to do things for themselves.

After taking care of a few "personal" needs, Chell began to look around for anything that may be edible.

At Aperture, the only food that she ate that didn't come in a powdery form, were potatoes. Chell hated potatoes, especially potato batteries. There was another type of food at Aperture, though. She never tasted it, but she heard of its wonderful taste from GLaDOS. The AI was always bragging about eating a delicious food called cake. She wasn't sure how GLaDOS could even taste the dessert, for the robot had no mouth.

Chell decided to try to taste test a few things. She was too frightened to pick up a piece of wheat, for it would remind her of a certain core. Instead, she saw a tree with things hanging off of its branches. The round objects glistened in the sunlight. She approached the tree and a somewhat familiar word popped into her head.

Apple.

She heard that word before, but from who?

Suddenly, she felled down. Her companion cube and the wheat field vanished. She was in a dark bedroom, and there were alarms playing. Thats when she noticed the blue light above her head. She was back at Aperture, with him.

She wanted to move her arms and grab him, but she couldn't. She urged herself to scream, but nothing happened.

The British core began talk to her, like if they just met,"Most test subjects do experience some, um, cognitive deterioration after a few months in suspension. Now, you've been under for - _quite_ a lot longer, and it's _not_ out of the question that you might have a _very_ minor case of - serious brain damage. But don't be alarmed, all right? Although if you do feel alarmed, try to hold onto that feeling, because that is the proper reaction to being told that you've got brain damage. Do you understand what I'm saying? At all? Does any of this make any sense? Just tell me, just say yes.

Chell had this part inside of her that was so stubborn. It was sending messages to her brain, that the only way to really resist GLaDOS was to ignore her and never answer back. The same was with Wheatley too, but she actually wanted to answer back. The words would form in her throat, but would never escape her mouth.

So, she did the only thing that she thought he would understand.

She jumped.

Apparently, he was so stup-, no he just had a lack of common sense, (_or_ _any sense_, a dark part of Chell's mind commented), that he didn't even process what Chell was trying to tell him.

"Okay, what you're doing there is jumping. Uh, you just jumped. But never mind; say apple. Apple!"

She jumped again.

"Okay, you know what? That's close enough, just hold tight."

He moved along his rail, into the ceiling. The room started to slowly move, like awakening from a deep slumber. Chell held onto a wall as the room started to move faster. He hit a wall, which he claimed to be a docking station, and she felled down.

Then the world turned black.

When Chell slipped back into a conscious state, she realized she wasn't in Aperture. She was still near the apple tree in the lonely wheat field.

It was all a dream.

No, not a dream. Almost all of that stuff had happened to her. And she didn't usually remember her dreams so clearly. It couldn't be just a mere dream.

It was almost like an illusion, or flashback.

Still, she got to see and hear Wheatley again. It was nice to see him before he got corrupted.

She sat up and sighed. It was time to climb an apple tree.

Then she had an idea. It would be dangerous, and tiring, to climb into the tree's high branches just to retrieve an apple. So, why couldn't she just use her portal gun? After all, GLaDOS had given her a small bag filled with the different types of Aperture gels.

She shrugged the white bag off her shoulder and opened it. She picked up a medium-sized container with a white gel in it. After spreading a some of the gel on the the highest point she could jump up to and the ground next to her bag, she shot her first portal outside of Aperture.

The portal glowed a magnificent orange. Her next portal shimmered a deep blue. She jumped into the orange one, and came flying out of the blue portal, to the top of the tree. The surprisingly soft leaves cushioned her landing, making it feel like she had fallen onto a pile of pillows.

She grinned. Sometimes, thinking with portals _could_ be useful.


	2. Chapter 2: Conscience

Chapter 2: Con_science_

"_Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness._

_Listen to it carefully." _

― Richard Bach

GLaDOS was feeling great. She was back in her normal "body." The moron and the lunatic were gone. She had even gotten rid of Caroline.

Life was pretty good.

But then, she became bored. She didn't realize that almost all of the test subjects in the stasis chambers had died. All of the power was out in 98.68321% of the rooms.

There was about a 100 test subjects that were still members of the being alive club. But not for long.

"Orange, Blue, bring one of the test subjects to the stasis bed in the test chamber 00. Also, put some long fall boots on him. We can't have him _dying_ on the very first test, that would be _horrible_," GLaDOS said, her voice oozing with sarcasm.

Orange and Blue took turns helping each other carry the unconscious body to his bed. Meanwhile, GLaDOS was fixing the her original test chambers and cleaning up any plants and dirt.

Test Subject 765, also known as, Michael "Mike" Daft, woke up a few minutes after being placed in the vault. He was a bit confused, and kept on staring at the ceiling. After 5.679 minutes, he stood up.

Music from a small radio came out and Mike looked around.

"I must be going crazy!W-W-Where am I?" He stuttered.

The music ended and a voice filled the room.

"Hello, and, again, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center."

He started twiddling his thumbs, clearly nervous, "Why can't I remember anything? And who are you? What is this place? Why am I her-"

"We hope your brief detention in the relaxation vault has been a pleasant one. Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper."

"There's a test? What happens if I fail? Or if I get a 100%? Or-"

GLaDOS was very tempted to put some turrets in his vault. However, she had to keep him alive. For science.

"Before we start, however, keep in mind that although fun and learning are the primary goals of all enrichment center activities, serious injuries may occur."

If GLaDOS had a face, she would have been silently laughing. Mike didn't seem to notice.

"For your own safety, and the safety of others, please refrain from aqudpnskdpxnajelsvnaslcbskd.

Mike frowned, and tried to make out what she was saying.

"I'm back."

"When do we start?" Mike questioned.

"The portal will open in 3...2...1..."

An orange portal popped up on the door. Mike stared in amazement, then started to scratch his shaggy brown hair.

"What am I supposed to do?"

He waited a couple minutes for instructions, but all he got was silence. Sighing, he gingerly stuck his hand through the portal. It went through. Looking at the glass walls in his vault, he saw his reflection in the portal.

"What is this?"

Again, silence.

He walked through the portal and came out of the blue portal. There was a sign that had two, big, black zeros on it. There was a 00/19 near two pictures. The pictures were off someone getting bonked on a head by a box and a tube with a box coming out of it. The was a little logo that said Aperture Science. He walked past the sign and the relaxation vault into another room. Suddenly, the door closed, almost taking Mike's leg off.

Mike turned around and observed the room. It had tube, a red button, and a door. Looking closer, he could see the two little signs that he saw in the other room. As well, there was a trail of blue dots leading up to an X.

He ran to the button and stepped on it. The door opened and he ran to it. It closed.

"Dammit," Mike cursed under his breath.

Again, he stepped on the button, but stayed on longer. The door opened, but the blue X and dots turned into orange dots and a check mark. There was a noise and the tube popped out a cube. Mike picked it up and placed it on the button.

The door opened.

He jogged to it, his face had a wide grin on it. He apparently thought that was the only test. GLaDOS saw this and laughed in her chamber. She thought, _he must be very foolish to believe I would only test him once! Science requires more than that._

Suddenly, a pleasant feeling washed over her. It warmed her metal body and made her smell neurotoxin. She began to moan in delight, but stopped halfway.

She was very good at ignoring the itch, but being out of her body for that certain period of time, made her more vulnerable to it. GLaDOS decided to try to avoid feeling pleasure from the itch, especially after she saw what it drove that once powerless moron to do.

"Excellent.-"

"I know, I was freaking awesome! Did you see how quickly I figured that out! And how gracefully I put that cube on that button. Also,-"

"Bragging is usually what orphans do, to make them feel better about not having parents."

"What?! I have parents! There names are..." Mike frowned. "I can't remember!"

"Never mind, please proceed into the chamber lock after completing each test. Please remember that the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grid will vaporize any unauthorized equipment."

Mike walks through the emancipation grid and into the elevator. He yawns and stretches his arms.

"So, what's my prize?"

GLaDOS almost laughed out loud. _He's almost as mental as the lunatic_ _and the moron_, she thought.

Surprisingly, a gentle, more humane, voice entered her mind.

_"She wasn't a lunatic and you know it."_


	3. Thoughts

Chapter 3: Thoughts

A/N: Oh my god. I love Wheatley so much it freaking hurts XD

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the portal characters. It's Valve's job to deal with them XD. As well, I do not own the awesome songs (they're listed below) that are mentioned in this chapter.

Wheatley's Song by Miracle of Sound

The Wheatley song by Harry101UK

Why, Wheatley, Why? By Machinima

"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."

― Friedrich Nietzsche

**'Searching for file... File found.'**

**'Test Subject #1 (previously #1498) and Personality Construct 144: Thoughts During Central Core Transfer, Testing, and the Final Battle. Is this the file you were searching for?'**

'_Yes.'_

**'View File?'**

'_Yes.'_

It was bloody amazing. Well, after the bloody pain he endured of having his handles ripped off his body. Being in Her mainframe was brilliant. He was bigger than Her and the lady for once. And he was so... powerful. He could help the lady finally leave this bloody facility! Then, this voice forced itself into his mind.

_'What did that lady sacrifice?,' _it said._'Nothing. She did nothing at all to help you. She sacrificed nothing. At. All. You did everything, Wheatley. She doesn't deserve to go to the surface. The only thing she's good for is testing.'_

The voice, was made up of various voices. It kept on changing from GLaDOS's, to the turret's voice, and finally to his voice.

Wheatley tried to his hardest to ignore the voice; he tried to amuse the lady by throwing things around and speaking in Spanish.

Deciding to not wait any longer, he started to bring the lift up. Then, that's when it happened. He was cheerfully laughing about how wonderful he felt, then his laugh became an evil chuckle.

"Actually... Do we have to leave so soon?"

And that was the beginning of his doom.

He knew he was, and still is, an intelligence dampening sphere. Although, he wanted to prove the scientists, the other cores, and especially Her wrong.

So after his little temper tantrum, he decided that after the lady returned, (He knew she would,because he was in charge, not that monster anymore.) He would show her some on the brilliant tests that he made. After a few hours of show-and-tell, he would leave the facility with her.

She would forgot about all of those insults he told her, and all of his mistakes. She would want him to be next to her. Well, as a team, of course. Not in any other way, really, but maybe as a friend. Or something more.

He scolded himself. That could never work out. He was just a silly, little core and she was, well, a _human_. A flawless human with who was the most amazing girl he had ever met. It could never happen.

But, she was the _only_ girl that didn't try to kill him when she woke up, so you never know.

So, after, at least a few days, she came. Oh, how happy he was! He showed a test, which was bloody difficult to solve, but being the wonderful lady she was she solved it in a snap.

When she she solved it, a wonderful feeling washed over him. A scene of the outside world, (which he saw on one of Aperture's Know-Your-Way-Around-or-Get-Fired, videos) entered his vision. There were two figures on the wheat field. One was a girl and the other was a taller, lanky figure.

They were dancing together, the man was talking about something and the girl was smiling. He observed the girl for a second and instantly recognized who it was.

The Lady.

And she was with another _human_.

Not him.

She was with someone else.

If Wheatley had a heart, it would have cracked. He started to silently cry, not wanting the lady to hear his wails.

In his vulnerable state, the voice overthrew his mind. It was like being shoved into the back of a room, with a crowd of waiting test subjects, and barely making out what the announcer just said. The voice started using his voice.

And it was horrible.

He insulted his love, about her weight, her parents, and about her brain damage. The voice talked about some itch, which didn't make any sense, because when Wheatley was in control of his body, he never felt itchy. Anyway, it was bloody mean.

The worse thing was, it practically took over his core. It was like it was pretending to be Wheatley, well, an evil Wheatley, but still a distinguishable type of Wheatley.

The lady went into the elevator, really confused about Wheatley's behavior.

_Aww, dammit, I'm going crazy already! Using my name in the third person,_Wheatley thought.

That's when that stupid voice spoke. _'You think you're going crazy? Then let me introduce you to the itch. Trust me, it will help.'_

Suddenly, Wheatley was back in control of his body.

_'Ha! I knew I could trick you into giving me my body back!'_

_'You didn't trick me,' _the voice replied._'This is my present to you, fromme. Enjoy!'_

Then, this itchiness filled his body. Not like a casual itch he saw the humans have every-now-and-then. It was like someone threw water on his wiring and metal. It was freezing cold, but steaming hot at the same time. He felt dizzy, like if was going into sleep mode against his own will.

'_Doesn't this make you feel better?'_ The voice asked, now in Her voice.

'_Oh bloody hell! Please help me! It burns! Please! Please! Plea-'_

_'Make the test subject do a test. Didn't you want to her to see your amazing tests?'_

The pain stopped.

_'Oh, that feels so good. No more freezing cold, pain, and heat. Anyway, yes, but I just wanted to impress her.'_

_'And why did you want to impress her? Do you think she had feelings for you? Why would that lady have feelings for a silly core? You don't even know her name!'_

_'Yes, I do know her name!' _Wheatley replied without thinking.

'_Oh, what is her name, then?'_

_'Umm... Err... Just give me a second, mate. Her bloody name is... Uh, I don't know.'_

'Just make her do the test,' the voice said, now in a masculine, male voice.

_'Ah, okay, I'll give your bloody idea a try...'_

So, Wheatley made his friend do the test. When she completed it, well, a wonderful feeling went through his system. It was amazing, but he became addicted to it. He developed an itch for testing, an itch that the voice would encourage him to scratch. By testing the lady and insulting her.

Finally, when she would complete a test nothing would happen. He quickly grew anxious and looked for other test subjects. He couldn't find any, for he had no idea how to find the enrichment center from Her, well now his, lair.

Then he found his answer, two robots that were called Orange and Blue by GLaDOS. Wheatley didn't like those names though, so he gave them some completely random names. Atlas and P-Body. They could never actually "die", so Wheatley was all set.

Then, that voice started to encourage him to kill the lady. His friend. It told him if he murdered her, he would get such an amazing feeling, that would forever satisfy the itch.

It was a tough choice for Wheatley, but the itch started to cripple his new body, when he didn't test enough. It was bloody hard, but sometimes you have to make hard choices.

_'No,' _Wheatley told the voice. _'I don't want to be this...this... monster you_ _made me become, anymore. It may be nice to be bloody massive, but she was my only friend here, until now.'_

_'Oh, that's too bad... I actually thought you weren't a moron, for a second there. Oh well, I guess I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands, then.'_

That's when the pain came in all colors. In black. White. Even, a familiar stratosphere blue.

The voice forced thoughts into his head. '_She doesn't want you. She hates you. She'll kill you if you don't do this. She a fat, orphan, that is very smug. You can't be friends with that mute.'_

A toneless voice, which was the announcer's came on the overhead. "Internal Core Corruption at 25%."

On and on, it went. After a few minutes of Wheatley resisting the voice's comments and the bloody hot pain, but he couldn't take it much longer. He started to cease from resisting.

_'I can't do it. It's bloody hard. I need help. I need her. I need her. I need he- No, I_don't_need her. She's just a _stupid_ orphan. I don't need help from that _awful_ woman.'_

"Internal core corruption at 100%."

_'My work here is done,' _the voice said and left Wheatley's "brain".

So after revealing his new personality to the lady, he started to try to kill her with mashy, spike plates. He felt no guilt, for she deserved it. Why should someone else be able to love her, when she didn't even love him, her old, **best** pal?

Still, she would escape, trap after trap. Finally, minutes before she would reach his lair, he gave her a proposition. She could commit suicide now, and die pretty painlessly. Or she would have to go head to head with him.

Of course, being the fatty she was, she didn't even try to die. He tried to be helpful, and attempted to kill her but she escaped. Again.

Wheatley was pretty pissed at this point, so he tried to calm himself. He did this by writing some songs. They were about the lady encountering him, and him winning. The other was just about how smart he was and how happy he was about not being the lady's slave anymore. He started to save it to the mainframe, when he started to hear the voice of the bitchy potato battery.

"Look, if you think we're still enemies, we're enemies with a common interest. Revenge. You like revenge, Right? Everybody likes revenge. Well, lets go get some!"

The platform that had started this whole mess, rose up. But instead of containing the lady and him, it contained the test subject and the ex-goddess of Aperture.

So, he did the only thing he could do.

He started to sing.

"Well, well, well, welcome to my lair."

Crap. He forgot the lyrics. Again.

So, he started to do the only other thing he could do in a situation like this.

He began talk.

He told her about how the building may or may not collapse in six minutes. Also, he told her talk about his master plan, which he got from watching the videos of the lady defeating Her.

After turning on the neurotoxin, he started to throw bombs at her, and she hid behind a pipe. He tried to hit her, but his bomb exploded the pipe, instead. Conversion Gel splattered all over the floor.

_Bloody hell._

He taunted and discouraged his ex-crush. He wanted to do everything in his power to kill her. It was bloody horrible, thinking about it now.

He threw bombs at her, and she carefully avoided them. She was getting tired, he noticed, and he almost put his shields down to help her.

_'Stop it,'_ he scolded himself. _'She's a smelly human for goodness sakes! You can do better than that piece of worthless crap!'_

_'No you can't,' _a remaining speck of his original self, commented. _She was your very best friend and you betrayed her. Can you ever stop thinking about yourself, and think about her for once?'_

In his moment of internal fighting, a bomb hit him from one of her portals. He screamed and his vision went black.

_'Yes I do think about her. I even made a song up of how she felt when I betrayed her. Bloody brilliant, it is. But even if I did want to fight the voice, I'm just not strong enough.'_

_'You can fight the voice. You can do it and make up to the lady. Both of you can conquer GLaDOS!'_

_'Uh, we already did that. Remember, when I turned Her turrets into crap and hacked into Her neurotoxin systems? I still think I did bloody brilliant, but that's how I'm here now, moron,' _new Wheatley, stated.

His vision came back and he attempted placed his shields up again. It wouldn't and he yelled in frustration. He looked around and saw that sone pipes had fallen, and the bouncy, blue gel was now on the floor. Then, something started to twitch on his side. He looked up.

He couldn't see it, but he sure could hear it. It was blabbering on about space. "Space, space, wanna go to space!"

The announcer's voice entered the room, "Core corruption at 50%. Vent system compromised. Neurotoxin offline."

_'You know I'm the real you, so you just called yourself a moron. Nice going there, mate,' original Wheatley commented._

_'Shut up! I am _**not** _a moron!'_

_'Maybe not mentally, but right now you're acting like a bastard to your, no, my friend. Maybe she would actually like you if you stopped trying to kill her! I'm pretty sure that would help.'_

"Reactor explosion in four minutes."

Suddenly, the voice, well, a different voice started to echo inside his head. '_Space cops! Please, space cops help!'_

"Ahh... Wh-What happened?!" Wheatley yelled.

"What happened? What, what, what have you put on me? What is that?"

The lady began to pop out more of her little portals, while Wheatley was distracted.

"Hold on," he checked for why his shields and bombs weren't working. "Ah, the bloody bombs are stuck on. Doesn't matter- I reconfigured the shields."

_'Wheatley, you need to stop, mate! Do you really want to hurt the lady? I'm okay if you hurt the potato, though, she's quite the bitch.'_

_'Shut up! It hard to concentrate with you and Spacey over here.'_

_'You know she put a core on you; the space core, to be exact.'_

Wheatley used this information to his advantage. "Oh, it's a core you put on me! Who told you to do that? Her?"

He looks around for the potato battery, which he finds that is stuck on a little piece of the gun.

_She used to do that to me. Well, not exactly that. Her portal gun kinda floated me or something of that sort. It was kind of fun floating in mid-air. Ah, the good ol' days. No, I mean the bad ol' days. Haha, that's what I meant._

_'I can hear your thoughts, _thought_ I would let you just know that,' _Former Wheatley said.

'_Shh!'_

He resumed his one-sided conversation with Chell. "It's just making me stronger, luv! It's a fool's errand."

_'You just called her, luv."_

_'Be quiet, you b-'_

_'Space, space, ba, ba, ba!' _Space Core interrupted.

At the same time, both Wheatleys angrily replied, _'This is a personal conversation, mate!'_

Wheatley began to resume his villainous rant with Chell. "Remember when I first told you how to find that little portal thing you love so much? I've thought you'd die on the way, if I'm honest. All the others did."

Chell made the first audible sound, Wheatley had ever heard. She gasped. Chell had never expected _poor_, _moronic_, Wheatley, to ever do such a thing. In Chell's moment of vulnerability, Wheatley hit her with a bomb. She gasped, again, and touched her stomach. Her hand came out drenched with blood.

"You didn't think you were the first, did you?" He laughed. "No, fifth. No. I lied. Sixth. Perhaps it's better to leave your imagination to what happened to the other five."

Actually, the other five were already dead, when he found them in the cyro-chambers. But, she didn't have to know that. Believing his lies, Chell was looking up at Wheatley, her face as cold as steel.

_She needs to die. I will be doing machine-kind a favor when I kill her._

_'Maybe you will, but will you be doing youself a favor?'_

_'That's for me to know and for you to find out! And how the hell can you hear what I'm thinking?'_

_'I'm you, unfortunately. But, I'm your half that represents encouragement, dreaming, and happiness. Pretty much all the good things about us. You represent, well, crap.'_

_'You are not me, mat-'_

_'Yes I am. Sadly.'_

_'Space, Space, wanna go to space.'_

_'Shut up, mate! I don't care about your bloody dreams!'_ Evil Wheatley yells, in his mind.

Tried of the conversation, the Wheatley in control, starts to sing in his mechanical brain. It's one of the songs he made up._'My IQ the infinite space from here to the moon!'_

Space Core provided the background music. '_Space. Space. Space.'_

_'Stop ignoring me, mate!'_

Ignoring himself, once again, Wheatley starts to taunt Chell. "You know what? I think we're well past the point of tasteful restraint. So, I'll tell you: They all died. Horrifically. Trying to get that portal device, that you're gripping in your meaty, little fingers there."

Then, Chell did the unthinkable. She put down her portal gun. Wheatley, being a moron and all, tried to shoot her, instead of destroying her only defense. She just side-stepped them all, and marched straight to Wheatley. She stood right underneath his eye, so he couldn't bomb her without killing himself in the process. And what would be the point of risking his own life, _just_ to kill the fatty, and then die?

Chell glared into his blue optic. _Oh god, she hates me. But, I don't ha- I mean, I do hate her. Do I? Of course I do! Slowly, Chell put four of her fingers down. She only left one up and wagged it at Wheatley._

It was the middle finger.

And she mouthed three words to him.

It wasn't, I love you. Or you're going down. It wasn't even, die, Wheatley, die!

_'Fuck you, bitch,'_

Those three words tore apart Wheatley's heart. They confirmed that there was no room for her, in his heart as black as ink.

'_Fuck you, bitch,'_

Suddenly, his head started pounding. _I have no time for this rubbish. It's time for this bitch to die._

Chell ran back to her portal gun, while Wheatley was thinking. He saw this and started to insult her.

"But you were _different_, weren't you? Such a _good_ jumper. Problem-solver. Clever. But ambitious. That's your Achille's heel. Mines-Oh! Oh! I almost told you! Clever, clever girl. Again: Brain damaged like a _fox_, you."

Chell rolled her eyes. She still was pretty pissed at Wheatley. But what he said, made her insides laugh. Wheatley was the only person, err, core, that could compliment and insult at the same time; While, trying to kill her. He was unique like that. Crazy, but unique.

But this wasn't the core she loved so dearly. It was an monstrous version of him.

She wanted her Wheatley back.

But that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Wheatley was spinning around looking for all of her portals. He hit a bomb into a orange portal and it popped out of a blue one. It flew, almost gracefully in the air, into Wheatley's optic.

"AHHHHH!"

His systems shut down, once again. Now he was stuck with the goody-two-shoes and spacey, all trapped inside his head.

'_Mate, she's doing it! All of those cores will help you! It will make us merge together! And we'll be the awesome sphere we were, before this bloody mess! I'm so ex-'_

_'SHUT UP!'_

_'Space, meteor, asteroid, comet. Space is the best place!'_

_'WON'T EITHER OF YOU, EVER SHUT UP!'_

Then, he gained control of his body again. He silently sighed in relief, when he observed his systems. There was 75% damage, but that was a C in grades. Wasn't it? So it wasn't an A+ amount of damage. He was going to be_absolutely_fine.

"Warning: Core corruption at 75%. Reactor Explosion Timer destroyed. Reactor Explosion Uncertainty Emergency Preemption Protocol initiated. This facility will self destruct in two minutes," said the announcer, with no emotion expressed in his words.

_It's not true! He is lying to me. Like that potato did. Lying to ol' Wheatley, like usual._

_'Hello there, random core. I'm Rick, the adventure sphere. A pretty little lady told me that you were bothering her. So, I'm here to take actions into my own hands.'_

_'It's you,' _Wheatley hissed. '_The bloody, obnoxious sphere who flirts with everyone! Even with my gi- Err, I meant test subject. My soon-to-be-dead, test subject, and her potato friend. Her soon-to-be-dead, potato acquaintance.'_

_'And you're that sphere that took over the facility! The British one! The I.D. core! And I do know what the I.D. stands for. Intelligence Dampening. Only you would be stupid enough to go in her mainframe. Besides me, but I would do it in a totally cooler, less corrupted, way.'_

_'You don't know all the bloody pain I endured over this past week! I was almost killed by Her, the pain of going into this bloody mainframe, the voice, and the heartbreak of losing your best fr-'_

_'Space, space, ba, ba, ba.'_

_'Argh! I had enough of all of you!'_

"Enough! I told you not to put these cores on me. But you don't listen, do you? Quiet. All the time. Quietly, not listening a word I say. Judging me. Silently. The worst kind," Wheatley hollered at the lady.

As quick as lightning, another bomb hit him, on the side of his core. "AHHHH!"

The lady, sighed, in both relief and grief. The facility was going to explode in less than a two minutes, but no one was trying to bomb her to death. Well, at the moment.

"Here's another core! This one should do it!" GLaDOS pipes up.

After shooting a portal next to the propulsion gel and one on the ground below the third core, Chell slide on the gel into the portal. She shot up and grabbed the core with the pink optic.

"The square root of rope is string."

Chell just confusingly glanced at the core, before running to Wheatley. She put the core on the floor and stared at her old friend for a second. They have been through so much, together. And she was going to have to kill him. She really_did_have feelings for him. But he wasn't his bumbling self anymore. Now, he was the definition of a moronic traitor.

Quickly, she went on her tippy-toes and kissed the side of his core. "Goodbye, Wheatley," she whispered, right before attaching the final core onto him.

"That's disgusting on _so_ many levels. If you knew what I knew, ugh, you will be regretting that. You really do have brain damage. For only brain-damaged people fall in love with fools. W-wait? You can talk? Those stupid test subject files need to be updated."

Chell fled from Wheatley, silently praying this wasn't the last time she would she him. She didn't answer GLaDOS, and which caused Her to groan.

_'Fact: Space is not real.'_

_'Space is real! It's space! Spaceeeee! I want to go to spaceeee!'_

_'This sounds like an adventure. I'll lead the way!'_

_'Bloody hell, won't any of you ever shut up! I've been bombed three times in five minutes! I think I had enough pain physically, I don't need it mentally too! Argh! I hate you all!'_

_'Fact: Haters are going to love.'_

_'I'm not going to love you! I don't even like you as a mate! Or a stranger! You're just to difficult to deal with! All of you are morons!''_

_'Fact: This conversation is over.'_

Suddenly, waves of pain flooded over him. "Ahh!" Then, he was back in control of his core. The lady was running and the announcer was saying something.

"Warning: Core corruption at 100%. Manual Core Replacement required."

_Bloody hell. That's an A+ in damage. Their reward won't be a gold star, though. It will be my downfall. Or will it? Hehe... Only if they get the extra credit points..._

"Oh I see..." Wheatley said with a dark chuckle.

"Substitute Core: are you ready to start?"

"Yes! Come on!" GLaDOS yells.

"Corrupted Core: are you ready to start?"

"What do _you_ think?" Wheatley replies, sarcastically.

"Interpreting vague answer as YES."

"No! No! Nonono! Didn't pick up my sarcasm..."

"Stalemate detected. Fire detected in the Stalemate Resolution Annex. Extinguishing."

Water poured from the ceiling, and for a moment, Chell thought it was raining. Wheatley, however started to squirm.

_'Stop it,' No! Not water! It can mess me up!_

_'You'll be fine, mate. You'll s-'_

_'Space! You'll space! All the way! To! Space!_

_'Have I ever told you the time I helped several ladie_s _with their problems?'_ Rick asked.

_'Shh_!'

That's when Wheatley began to notice that all of the stupid gels were coming off. That means the lady wouldn't be able to jump high. Or go really fast. Or... She wouldn't be able to use that portal gun of hers!

This was going to be **good**.

"Ah. That just cleans right off, doesn't it? Well, that would have been good to know. A little earlier."

Only the announcer responded to him. "Stalemate Resolution Associate: Please press the Stalemate Resolution Button."

Two voices yelled at the lady.

"Go press the button! Press it!"

"Do not press that button!"

"We're so close! Go press the button!"

"No! Do not do it! I forbid you to press it!"

"Press it! Press the button!"

"Don't press the button!"

"Press it!"

So, instead if listening to her old pal, Wheatley, she obeyed GLaDOS's commands. She shot a portal on a remaining patch on conversion gel under Wheatley, and one in the room with the button.

Wheatley cried out in one last, futile attempt. "Don't press it! COME BACK!"

Chell almost stopped. His voice was so pained, it grabbed her heart and she almost went back. But, she couldn't go back. Or she would die with him. No, she would die because of him.

She began to press the button, but something happened. She found herself flying in the air, kind of like being on an Aerial Faith Plate. She landed hard, on her hand, which started to bleed heavily. At least a few of her fingers were jammed and she cursed at being so stupid.

"PART FIVE! BOOBYTRAP THE STALEMATE BUTTON!"

For a moron, he was pretty smart._Sometimes_...

"What, are you still alive? You are joking. You have got to be kidding me. Well, I'm still in control. AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO FIX THIS PLACE!"

Chell slowly rose up, and grabbed her handy portal gun. The rain washed off the blood from her chest and hand, leaving red stains on the floor. She stared at her enemy, who had once been someone she was quite fond of. Now, he was a monster.

"You had to play bloody cat and mouse, didn't you? While people were trying to work. Yes, we'll, we're all going to have to pay the price. BECAUSE WE'RE ALL GOING TO BLOODY DIE!"

Space Core and his other half started to chant in his mind. '_Tell her about space! The moon! The moon!'_

_'Okay, okay, I will. Just do me a favor and SHUT UP!'_

Following his fellow cores' idea, he told the lady about the moon. "Oh, brilliant, yeah. Take one last look at your_precious_human moon. Because it can **not**help you now!"

Chell smiled. _Or can it?_ She fired a portal to the moon and hoped for the best. 10 seconds later, an orange dot appeared on the moon's surface. And the blue portal from before, was still under Wheatley.

"Ah!" Screamed a terrified Wheatley as he started to disconnect from his cables. The force pulled him and the lady onto the surface on the moon. Wheatley was dangling on a thin cable, his only protection from floating into the never-ending abyss.

Chell grabbed Wheatley's handles, holding on for dear life. She held her breath, but she couldn't hold it for much longer.

Meanwhile, all the voices that were in Wheatley's head vanished. The pain in his head was gone and he felt more... Full. Well, the lady was holding onto his handles that weren't there a minute ago.

Wait, what? The lady was holding into him in... "SPACE!"

"AH!"

The lady observed the situation, while Wheatley continued freaking out.

"AH!"

Suddenly, a very high pitched voice screamed. "Space? SPACE!" It flew out of the portal, banging into Wheatley and making Chell lose her grip on him. Chell was left for a few seconds dangling from him, until she reconnected her hand to his handle.

Wheatley almost had a panic attack when this happened. Even when she was okay, he started to have one.

"Let go! Let go! I'm still connected! I can pull myself in! I **can** still fix this."

Chell almost let go of him. He sounded so much like his old self, the core she trusted. But, in their battle, didn't he yell out, "I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO FIX THIS!" She made up her mind. And**nothing** was going to change it.

"I already fixed it. And you are not coming back!"

GLaDOS's voice rang through her ears like a blessing and a curse. She could already feel her heart slowing from the lack of oxygen.

She felt Wheatley being knocked from her, and she tried to reach out and grab him. He flew out of her reach, leaving her just with the memory of his cries.

"GRAB ME! GRAB ME! GRAB ME!"

She too, started to fly. Something cold and hard, grabbed her, though. It pulled her back into the facility. She took a deep breath of air, before blacking out.

**'File Completed. View Again?'**

'_Hmm... No.'_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Cries and Eyes

_ "Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before-more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle." _

― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Wheatley had learned several things about space.

It was big.

Very beautiful.

And **extremely** boring.

It seemed like he had been stranded up here for years. Only singing (his secret passion) and the thought of the lady, had kept him from going insane. He spun his optic around for the millionth time, trying to ignore his fellow core's words.

"Space! Space! I'm in space! Are-are you in space too?"

"No, I'm in Aperture. Ah, where do you think we bloody are?"

"Space."

"Ye-"

"SPACE!"

"Never mind, but do you remember the test subject? The nice lady who liked her portal gun and-"

"SPACE! She liked space! She's a space cop! Ba ba ba ba!"

"Please at least try to respond decently, I'm making an effort to hold a conversation here, but of course you have to bloody mess it up! I don't know anything about you- even your name."

Space core's voice quivered, and he said, "My name is...is..."

"Come on, mate. You can do it. No one is here except you and me- and the moon and the stars, but you get my point."

"Kevin."

"Good job, Kevin. Well, my name is Wheatley. It's like wheat, but with a ley at the end. It's a quite unique name, not as unique as Hers or the lady's, but it's still up there. So, what do you like? You know besides-"

"Space? SPACE! Ba! Ba! Ba!"

Wheatley groaned, and because he was as bored as hell, he decided to sing. He didn't know how he knew most of these songs, but they made him feel less lonely. They made him feel like the lady was with him.

"Okay, Space C- Kevin. I am going to sing a song, you know like usual, so please don't start freaking out like you did last time. You can sing along- but, just remember my voice will probably sound better. No offense. Anyway, here I go!"

Wheatley cleared his throat, then started to sing.

"I had a way then, losing it all on my own. I had a heart then, but the queen has been overthrown. And I'm not sleeping now, the dark is too hard to beat. And I'm not keeping now, the strength I need to push me."

While singing, memories of the lady and him fill his mind. His optic drooped down, like a wilting flower. He begins to sob quietly.

Space core abruptly ends his latest rant about space. He looks at Wheatley with genuine concern in his eye. He floats over to him, and taps Wheatley with his handle.

"Hey, hey, mister. Are you okay?"

Wheatley looked up. "Just leave me alone, Kevin."

"But, you're not talking a lot. Something's wrong."

"Well, you're not talking about bloody space for a change- I'm not sure to be either seriously worried or happy. I think it's a combination of both. Yes, yes, that's sounds right."

Kevin started to slightly tremble. His eye flashed a brilliant gold, blinding Wheatley for second. Then, it turned back to its normal shade of yellow.

"It's not my fault."

"Of course it's not your fault, that I feel a bit crappy! It's mine of course. I should have never had betrayed her and even fall in - er, fall into the trap of... friendship with her. We should have been just teammates, nothing more, nothing less."

Kevin's voice suddenly became less high-pitched. "I didn't mean that. I meant my programming. My obession with space. I liked space as a child, I even wanted to be an astronaut, like my father. I told all of his co-workers of my dreams, they used to smile and doubtfully nod their heads in agreement."

Kevin sighed. "My father helped Mr. Johnson get some moon rocks, but both of them ended up being poisoned. I tried to find a cure for my father and Mr. Johnson, but the workers stopped me. They **wanted** to die. So, they turned my research team and I into cores. They made our special talents our obsessions. And that's how I ended up like this."

Wheatley laughed. "Ha, good story, Kevin. Cheered me up, that's funny thinking that you were a human- it's bloody impossible because all of us cores are artificial intelligence. You're good at making stories up, though. And I'm glad you're talking to me. You... You did before, but it was all about space. Thanks, mate."

Kevin's swirled his optic around, in annoyance. "I'm **not** lying."

Wheatley chuckled. "Don't worry, mate you already cheered me up. I think I'm at maximum happiness right now. Well, not really- but I feel better than I did before. And if that really did happen, why did you suddenly stop talking about space?"

"I defied the program. They never thought I would end up in space. That was my programming; to want something that I would never get. But, I did go to space. And I remember my past, now. All thanks to you."

Kevin bumped his hull lightly against Wheatley's, representing a hug. Wheatley just floated there, confused as ever.

"Er, what? If all of this, er- stuff, did happen to you, why did you just remember all about it now? It doesn't make any sense."

"The tears of a friend can bring back memories, good **and** bad ones. Wheatley, don't you get it? You were once-"

Surprisingly, Kevin's yellow optic's glow started to fade. He tried to move closer to Wheatley, but it was futile. He looked like he was dying.

"Um, mate? Are you alright? Um, are you still alive?"

Sparks started to fly from Kevin's body. He screamed in pain, begging for his parents, Wheatley, or just anyone to help him.

A few tense moments later, Kevin's eye turned a dull gray and closed.

"Er, Kevin?"

Wheatley tapped Kevin with his handle.

"Mate? Are-are you alright? Are you alive? Okay... I got an idea. Nod once if you're alive, but dying. Nod twice if you're alive and okay. Don't nod at all if your dead. Okay, do you get it? If not, i'll repeat it. Okay, I'll say it slower this time. Nod once if you're alive, but dying. Nod twice if you're alive and okay. Don't nod at all if your dead. I'll give you a minute to process that, alrighty then."

Wheatley starts to hum a song, while waiting for Kevin's response. After a few minutes, he gives up.

"I am guessing you are dead. It's really sad, actually. Finally, I get someone to actually converse with. And of course they have to bloody die on me. Anyway, I guess I'll have to give you a funeral. Wouldn't be a proper death without one. Even though the dead test subjects never did get one. Quite sad. I'm just glad the lady never had one. I almost made her have one-"

Suddenly, Wheatley got a pounding pain in his head. It was steady at first, but then it came in painful bursts. A minute later, a cool voice entered his head.

"Hello, _Moron_."

Wheatley rolled his optic in annoyance, but his core started to tremble a bit.

"H-Hello there! Well, I have to be going, you know, stranded in space and all. Haha, well, bye!

Wheatley started to float away, but the voice stayed with him.

"I'm communicating with you through the inner speakers in your core. So, I'm here to stay. Unless, I somehow lose connection with you, but I doubt that's going happen. After all, you can't do **anything**. Just a **stupid, **_little, _metal ball, who betrays their teammates."

Wheatley started to shake in fury.

"I guess I can't get a bloody break! You won! You and the lady sent me to space! But, of course you got to annoy me, even when my friend just died!"

"Hmm, I guess you're trying to fight your own battles now? Even when you have no arms, legs, and no brain. That just proves my point. You really are retarded."

"Well, being in space isn't making me any smarter!"

GLaDOS chuckled. "Oh moron, don't you get what I'm here for. To give you a proper punishment. Being banished into the celestial heavens and slowly going insane over the years of decay and a dying battery is _too little_ of a punishment for you. No one takes my facility and gets away with it! So, I'm bringing you back."

"That's a very bad idea! So, it must be bad, because I'm... Um, made to generate not-so-great ideas, so I can tell what's bad idea when it's thrown out there. Ha, so me going back to your precious facility is not a good idea!"

"Your attempts are futile. You are coming back to get the most painful punishment ever known to _science_."

The announcer's voice from the facility entered his head. "Initiating Aperture Science Mechanical Touch the Stars Claw: 20% completed."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

GLaDOS laughed. "I'm just getting your pick-up ride. It's very comfy. You'll like it."

Wheatley grunted. "I don't have a good feeling about this. You lie a lot. More than I do! Not that I lie much... Hehe..."

"ASMTSC initiating... 90% completed."

Wheatley sensed a change in the scenery. Coming from Earth was a long silver thing, with two sharp objects sticking out of it.

"What is that?"

"The ride to your doom."

"Sounds pleasant..." Wheatley sarcastically said.

"ASMTSC initiated. 100% done."

"Oh goodie. The claw has arrived."

Wheatley shuddered at the massive object rapidly approaching him. He tried to float away, but the claw always moved faster than him.

The usually toneless announcer, apparently got an update. It spoke in a feminine voice.

"ASMTSC Manual Override: 50% completed."

"Can't you ever go away!" GLaDOS screamed.

"Sorry, mate, but you're the one bringing me too you. I'm perfectly happy staying here, thank you very much. Now, _that_ sounds like a good-"

"I wasn't talking about you!"

"ASMTSC Manual Override is Completed," The voice said.

The claw started to move toward him, but it kept jerking back and forth. GLaDOS kept screaming at the voice to give her full control over the claw. The voice ignored it.

"Hey, Moron! I forgot to tell you something."

"Yes, what is it? Is it a surprise? I just know it's not cake, because you know- the cake is a lie."

"Remember that deadly weapon I almost killed you with. Well, this is it. The magnificent object that practically destroyed you once, is bringing you to me. Your death."

"Why don't you ever stop torturing him? Hmm..." The new announcer said.

Wheatley gasped. "Hello, there, new announcer! Can you do me a favor and well, get this bloody thing away from me! I don't want to die. Please!"

"Don't worry, I got this," The voice replied.

Suddenly, the claw moved toward Kevin. On it's way there, it hit Wheatley and he started to move away from the moon. Soon, he was flying through the sky towards Earth.

"AH! Bloody hell!"

"I hate you, so much. Even more than the mute lunatic-" GLaDOS's voice faded out and the other voice replaced it.

"Good luck, Wheatley."

"Thank you. Wait-What? How-how do you know my name? That does not make any sense to me. Unless, you're the lady! Wait, she's probably dead or testing by now. Agh, and she never talked, so you're someone different."

Wheatley started to enter the Earth's atmosphere. Heat pressed against his core, causing him to scream. Some of the paint on him started to burn off. His pieces of wiring that sticked out of his core, were disintegrated in a mere matter of seconds.

"Personality Construct 144, You have taken 35% damage," The usual announcers voice, rang in his head.

"Ha, nice to bloody know, but I could tell. You know- falling back to the Earth at the speed of a rocket. Haha, all in a day's work- wait, or is nighttime? Well, from here it's both, because one half of the Earth is sleeping, and the other half is awake."

"Emergency Protocol Activating... Step 1 to Crash Landing to Earth: Stay Calm. Step 2: Activate your parachute. Step 3: Don't die.

"I have a parachute? Wow, those scientists sure did think of everything, but how do I activate them?"

"Activating Parachute... Enter Password for Parachute Activation."

Wheatley groaned. "Agh, I'm not good at these. But-"

"Password Incorrect. Try again?"

"Is it Aperture? Or Science? Or Aperture Science? Oh, I know! It's GLaDOS!"

"Passwords Incorrect: Try again?"

"What is it? Is it parachute? The most obvious answer. Someone must have been an absolute retard to make such a-"

"Password Correct. Parachute Initiating... Parachute cannot be open due to extreme temperatures. Sorry, for the inconvenience. Have a nice day!"

"You got me all excited for nothing, huh. Can you tell me what that thing that I'm about to fall into is? It's big and gray, but the sun is out. What, that's the sun? I kind of excepted it to be bloody massive, everybody makes a big deal of it. What's that stuff falling out of the gray thing? Is that... Oh, _bloody hell_! It's water!"

Wheatley flew threw the storm clouds, getting soaked on the impact. He shivered, as sparks flew from his wires.

Gravity pulled him down, as he witnessed a sun shower for the very first time.

"This isn't very fun. Isn't the world beyond Her control supposed to be, well-fun? Or at least it can make up its mind about the weather. How are the gray things leaking, but the sun is shining? Doesn't make any sense."

Wheatley approached a field of grass, with gray stones in the ground. There were millions of them, but only one human was in sight. She was leaning over a stone, her dark ponytail hung limply behind her back.

Wheatley flew away from her, but the wind seemed to carry her words to him. She sang softly, her voice full of sorrow.

"Just close your eyes. The sun is going down. You'll be alright. No one can hurt you now. Come morning light. You and I'll be safe and sound"

He tried to warn her to watch out, for he was spinning randomly on the air. Only a tiny squeak came out from his vocal processors.

"Vocal Processors are... Damaged. You will be unable to communicate via your voice for 10 minutes."

Suddenly the young girl looked up; she looked so much like the lady, Wheatley realized. Her eyes, were much different though. Her eyes were filled with confusion, depression, hatred, but most of all... _Curiosity_. Her light brown eyes observed him, greedy for knowledge and excitement.

Distracted by this fascinating creature, Wheatley didn't notice that he was about to crash into a tree. When he did, it was too late. His optic started to slide shut, but he tried to force it to stay open. He wanted to see her.

The human looked very interesting.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Portal 2_, and the songs, _Lights_ and _Safe and Sound._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Curiosity

Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed. ~Joseph Addison

The town was silent. No one was outside. It seemed frozen in motion, then a bell rang. Kids streamed out of a school in groups or pairs, laughing and talking.

Only one was walking alone. She walked past the little children playing on the swings, the teenagers on their phones, the guys playing basketball, and a posse of girls gossiping.

The girl was reading a large book, which had tales of epic battles and romances. Things that she could only hope to experience.

Or so she thought.

Suddenly, she banged into something hard. The girl felled back and gasped.

A pair of bright green eyes were inches away from her face. A hand reached out to help her and she grabbed it.

"Th-Th-Thank you," she stuttered.

"No problem, Isabella," The boy responded.

"I'm sorry about that, I should have been paying more attention to where I was going."

"No, it's okay! I actually needed to ask you something."

"You can ask me anything, Brandon!" Bella exclaimed with a smile.

"Well, I was looking for my basketball. Me and the guys were playing a scrimmage over there, and Greg took a bad shot. So, yeah. Have you seen it?"

Bella smile dropped. "Oh. No. I haven't seen it."

Brandon ran his hand through his hair. "Oh, ok. Well, seeya in Algebra, tomorrow."

"Bye."

Mike ran to another person to ask them about the missing ball, while Bella picked up her book. She placed her book in her purple backpack. How could she have been so foolish, to think he might ask her out? They hardly ever talked outside of class.

_ It's just that he's so smart. And attractive. His eyes seem to sparkle, and his hair is just so... Perfect. He's on the basketball and track teams at school. Who wouldn't love a guy like that?_

_ It's just I can't afford to love someone like that. Or anybody for that matter. Not after what happened._

Bella turned to the right. She walked through the old gates, and into a graveyard. She scanned the area. Confirming that nobody was there, she headed for a tall tree, with a grave next to it.

It started to drizzle, but Bella didn't care. The sun was still out, so the chance of a thunder storm was very slim.

She sat next to the grave, and stroked it lovingly. Then, she started to weep.

She couldn't control herself. Her life was upside down since the fire.

She only had two things that were reliefs in her difficult life. Her neighbor, who sometimes listened and chatted with her. Her mother didn't like him. She said he was a confused man who needed serious help. Bella didn't care about what she said, though. He was a source of comfort, of friendship, a major part of the only kindness of her life .

Then she had them. Her books. Her beloved stories and information, one of her only real connections with the world before and after the Black Mesa incident. Each page called her name, they told her that she could quench her curiosity by opening them up and reading them.

So, who cared if some people threw her dirty looks whenever she read. It wasn't her fault that she was curious. It's like they expected her to plan another Black Mesa incident.

She wasn't **that** stupid, though.

And she never wanted to work at that hellhole. Slaving away, trying to make people forget their massive failure that almost **led to the **

**extinction of mankind. **

She started to do something that she only did in private.

She sang.

It was a song that was from a movie based off of one of her favorite books. She liked it so much that searched and memorized the lyrics.

"I remember tears streaming down your face, when I said, "I'll never let you go." When all those shadows almost killed your light. I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone." But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight."

"Just close your eyes. The sun is going down. You'll be alright. No one can hurt you now. Come morning light. You and I'll be safe and sound."

Abruptly, Bella ended. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something floating in the wind. The circular thing was screaming for help, but all Bella could do was stare.

Could it be an alien? Gordon Freeman and the Resistance had defeated the aliens and killed partially all of them. That was fifteen years ago. And the portal was closed, but you **never** know.

It appeared closer, and banged into the tree over the grave. It crashed into the top branches of the tree, threatening to fall off. A blue light flickered from it. It looked like it wanted to sleep, but it kept on opening it's optic.

The creepy thing was it was staring **straight** at her.

Then, it closed its eye.

Bella raised her body up and stood there, frozen in shock and confusion.

She didn't know exactly how the aliens had looked like. None of the books she had read had been published during that time. As well, it was an uneasy topic whenever she tried to discuss it with her parents.

She gathered all of her bravery, and summoned it to life. She took a step forward, then stopped.

_ What if it's deadly? It could kill you. You don't even know what it is! Don't be a fool! Don't risk your life for something silly! Stay safe! Don't be a retar-_

**No**.

Bella sighed and tried to imitate some characters from her favorite novels.

_ Be a brave Gryffindor. Be a fearless member of Dauntless. Be like Katniss in the hunger games. Just have some courage!_

She glanced at that metal ball, who was "sleeping". It looked kind of... Non-violent.

She walked to the oak tree and started to climb up it branches. In a minute, she was in the same branch as the circular piece of metal. She sat down on the sturdy branch and looked at the thing.

Cautiously, she tapped it, and waited for a reaction.

There was none.

She grabbed the item by its two handles and placed it in her lap. She was unsure about what the hell it was, but she was pretty certain it wasn't dangerous.

**Yet**.

She touched its inner shell, surrounding the thing's optic. It was smooth, but cold, like it just took a plunge through some rain clouds.

Actually that could be true. It had practically felled out of the sky.

The outer part of its covering was warm, like it had been roasting at some point, but was now cooling off. It had flecks of white and a light blue paint peeling off of it. There were various wires sticking out of it, that would sparks would occasionally come from.

She turned it around, so the optic was facing her. It had a large crack, that ran from one corner of his eye to the opposite side. As well, on his core there was small circles made up of isosceles triangles on him. It looked strangely familiar. Maybe she saw it in a book or something like that?

It had metal eyelids. she could tell it was probably white years ago, but now it was dirtier, like a light gray.

She tried to pry his eye open, to see if it was still alive. She was no match to the sturdy metal, so after a few minutes she turned it around. She decided to wait ten minutes for it to wake up, if not she would bring it hide it in the graveyard, and check on it tomorrow.

After a few minutes of waiting, it's core started to heat up. A toneless voice came from the sphere.

"Aperture Science Core #144 Rebooting... Reboot 10% complete."

Shocked, Bella almost felled out of the tree. She balanced herself and placed the core next to her, for the heat was a bit unbearable.

Her jeans had an imprint where the metal ball had been. It was scorched black and she gasped. How did she not get burned?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice coming from the sphere.

"Reboot 100% completed. Time to rise and shine, Core #144."

The core started to shake, then it slowed to a slow tremble. It's eyelids flew open, revealing a sky blue iris.

"AUGH! HELP M-" a British voice said from the core.

He stopped screaming. "Oh, um... Guess that wasn't the proper way to introduce myself."

He rolled his optic around looking for someone. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Bella.

"Oh! Hello, there... Just... Give me a second... Augh! Never mind. Anyway, my name's Wheatley! Have you seen any test subjects around here? The one I'm looking for looks a bit like you, but has shorter hair. And it's a bit darker. And her eyes are a different color. And she's an adult. So have you seen her? By the way she has a portal gun-"

Bella grabbed him by his handles.

"Um, hello there, Mr. Wheatley... How about I'll answer your questions if you'll answer some of mine. Does that sound fair?"

Wheatley bobbed his head in agreement. "Sounds good, mate! Just... Don't drop me. Please, don't. It looks so high from up here."

"Do you want to go down?" Bella asked.

Wheatley chuckled. "Now that's a great idea! I wonder why I didn't think of- oh." He paused, lost for words. "Um, nevermind!" He nervously said.

Bella tightened her grip on him, and jumped from the branch. Wheatley snapped his eye closed and started screaming bloody murder. He was still wailing for help, even after Bella landed.

She tapped him. "Mr. Wheatley? It's okay. We're on the ground."

Wheatley opened his eye timidly. "Ha, well, I was just playing with you. Just seeing if you were trustworthy. You know, just in case. Not that I doubt you! No, no, it's nothing like that! It's just-"

"It's fine," Bella mumbled.

"Hey! You know what, it stopped raining! It seems so unnatural, water falling from the sky." Wheatley looked up. "Where do you put all of those sprinklers up there, anyway?"

Bella laughed. "There's no sprinklers in the sky. It comes from the clouds."

"Uh, I knew that..." Wheatley doubtfully replied.

Bella placed him on the grass. "So, Mr. Wheatley-"

Wheatley shook his head back and forth. "Don't call me Mr. Wheatley, mate. That would mean Wheatley is my last name. Which it's not. I don't even have a last name. Or a middle name. Just plain ol'-"

"Wheatley, please try to be quiet for a minute."

"Ok, mate. But I'm not that-"

"Loud. Yes, I can tell. What you're going to say though is very easy to predict."

"It's-"

"Not. But it is. Just please let me ask some questions. Then, you can ask me some."

"Okay, but don't do that creepy thing again. It's like you know what I'm going to say. Wait... You're a mind-reader. Brilliant! So, you can read everyone's mind and find the girl! I can say sorry for being mean and monstrous. Then, we can have a big party with cake-"

"Wheatley," Bella said with a hint of annoyance.

"Haha, sorry, got a bit carried away." Wheatley nodded toward her. "Go on."

About time.

Bella started to let the beautiful emotion called curiosity carry her on its path, to learn so much more than she knows right now. Her sixth sense took total control, pounding Wheatley with questions.

"First of all, how are you talking?"

Wheatley laughed. "My thought sensors of course. It just hears what I approve to say and says it."

"So you can pick any voice you want?"

"No, the scientists programmed me with this voice. Based off a worker or something like that. But, I do have a smashing American accent."

Bella snorted. "Um, you talk in a British accent."

Wheatley rolled his optic. "Of course I know that! I can do both. See, I'll speak with an American accent in my next sentence." He cleared his metaphorical throat. "Uh, hello there. My name is Wheatley. I can speak American!"

He nodded his optic up and down. "See, I can do it!"

Bella giggled. "Sorry to break it to you, but that was the worst American accent I ever heard."

Wheatley rolled his optic. "Well, not to be rude or anything, but I don't see you speaking in an American accent!

Bella sighed. "Um, I am. Never mind that. I have a lot to ask you. Who made you? Where did you come from? Why were you made? When were you made? Are you an AI?"

"Um, give me a second to think." Wheatley thought for a few minutes. Well, I'm from Aperture. Supposedly the best science company ever." Wheatley snorted. "But they did make me, so it could be true. Thinking about it, it's probably true. They made me and Her and Kevin and Rick and Craig. Just about everyone I know! Well, except you. And the lady. Kind of weird, now that I think of it..."

"I was made to... Well, we can get back to that, it's very unimportant, how about I answer something else. Ok, um, I don't know when I made... One of the scientist's cup had the a big number that started with a 1 and a 9 but I don't remember the rest. What year is it anyway?"

"2040."

"Interesting. Well, it doesn't matter to my because I don't age and I'm practically immortal, well not to the lady or Her, but I kind of am. Even my management rail couldn't stop me! Err, it couldn't stop anyone though, so oh well."

Bella grinned, and Wheatley chuckled. "Oh, this is fun! No one ever talked to me expect Her and-"

Tiny droplets of water started to hit Bella and Wheatley. Wheatley screamed in terror.

"Ah! Bloody hell! Where are those bloody sprinklers? The scientists told me to never get wet, or I would die! Now, I'm going to die! Please help me, miss! Please! I'm too young to die!"

Bella picked him up and turned him around to face her. "Wheatley, when I found you, you were already wet. I'm pretty sure you're not going to die."

He shivered. "I... I don't like the rain!" He wailed.

She snorted. "How about this; I'll bring you to my house and protect you, but you have to keep me company. And when I'm not home, you can't talk. Or your cover will be blown."

Wheatley moved his handle bars up and down. "I don't have any covers! Or do I? I never really seen myself in a mirror, so I can't tell. I only know my name, I'm from Aperture, and I'm a core. A... A core on a mission!"

"Just say yes."

"Ok, yes! Or, or is it no? Um...Yes!"

Bella put Wheatley down and picked up her bag.

"Miss? Don't leave me here!"

"Shh!"

Bella moved her books to another pocket in her bag. Then she squeezed the core in the main pouch.

"It's very dark in here. Can I turn on my flashlight? The scientists said I would die if I did, but when I was with the lady I turned them on and I didn't die! I felt a little warm, but I was still alive!"

Bella groaned. "Just don't talk, I don't want my parents to find out about you. They'll just turn you into some stupid science experiment"

"Uh, ok. If you say so. Being quiet, starting... Now."

Bella zipped up her bag, but not before Wheatley screamed.

"Ah! It's so dark!"

So much for being quiet.

Bella shushed him. She put the bag her shoulders, which was a little uncomfortable because of the weight of her school books and Wheatley. She could feel his handles pressing against her back; she made a mental note to make him face the other way if they ever did this again.

The steady drizzle of water, turned into buckets of rain. Bella covered her hands over her head, and started to run. Wheatley started to yell in her bag, but over the noise of the rain and the cover of fabric over him Bella could only hear parts of his screams.

"What the hell! Oh god, what are you-" His handles banged into her back. Bella grunted. "Miss? Are you alive still? I'm moving, but you're not carrying me by your hands, maybe by your head or something or that sort. I haven't heard from you in forever! The lady never spoke, but she was brain-damaged and you're not so-" She tried to tune out the parts of his constant babble that she could hear, but it was no use.

"You know, this device you're carrying me in kind of smells. Like rain and paper and books and water and lead and pencils and graphite and boringness. It kind of smells like the scientists' library, which had a lot of books. It smelled like this too! Definitely not my favorite smell, but it's better than how space smells. Space has no smell! And I barely can smell anything, those bloody scientists didn't give me decent scent sensors. Those scientists forgot to give me a lot of things. A fun job, a pair of arms and legs wouldn't hurt at all, um a good scent sensor, a huge mainframe, a better reason of why I was made, a more damage-proof hull, oh a water-proof hull would be great too! And that's about it. I think."

After 20 minutes of dashing through the rain, avoiding being hit by cars or falling into puddles, Bella was not in a good mood. Wheatley's never-ending chatter didn't help either.

She thought he was quite charming at first. He didn't try to kill her, instead he started to talk to her. It actually calmed her down, having someone to talk to that would actually respond with more than a few words. But he wouldn't shut up! She had no idea how she was supposed to hide this noisy metal ball from her nosy parents.

Bella arrived at her front porch and pulled her bag off of her shoulders. She leaned toward it and hissed in the area where Wheatley was residing in.

"Shut up! I can't let my parents hear you! Just... Be quiet until I take you out!"

She noticed that a faint, but visible, blue light was visible, which brightened up her bag and the rainy night.

"And close your eye!"

"It's an optic, mate! One-of-a-kind optic!"

"I don't care! Just close it!"

"Okay, okay. I will."

Bella sighed with relief when the blue glow vanished from her bag.

"Now, just don't talk until I say so."

She walked through the door and into the kitchen. Her parents sat at the table, in the middle of a meal. Her father still had his lab coat on, and her mother's shirt had some yellow substance stuck onto it.

"Why are you soaking wet? What happened to your jeans? Didn't I tell you to be back by 7 o'clock? It's already 9 o'clock! Where the heck have you been! Take your bag off and come sit down!" Her mother hollered at her.

Bella sighed. "Can I go to my room to get change?"

"No! Eat first, but no desert for you since you were late!"

"I never get desert anyway..." Bella mumbled under her breath.

Her father drummed his fingers awkwardly against the mahoney table. He looked bored, but a bit amused at Bella's losing of the argument. A weird smile was on his face, like he was drunk or drank way to many coffees.

"Can I put my bag in my room?"

Her mother raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to get my belt out?"

"No, M'am," she grumbled.

Bella put down her bag as far away as she could from her parents, without attracting attention. She seriously hoped that Wheatley could stay quiet for at least fifteen minutes or this was going to be a disastrous evening.

She made a mental note in her mind to never have this happen again with this horrible equation.

_ A gullible and noisy British metal ball + Crazy, nosy, scientist parents = A new science project for them and a very possible whipping and a lot of trouble for me._

_ This was not going to be good._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Coming Home

_She messed up bad._

_ So bad._

_ He needed to go the survivor. Aperture's most mental, but brightest worker, was above the facility. Free and alive, but scarred for life._

_ She just hoped he had forgiven her. She had never meant for him to be a second option; it had just worked out that way._

_ At least, it saved him some pain about her "death." The so-called "_relaxing_" transfer. The numbing of her body, then bright pain coming from inside her body. Her outside weakening, her voice fading, the light dying inside her and from the_ facility.

_Oh, she was glad didn't have to deal with it._

_ He died, but they had another option._

_ Her._

_ She was their second choice. Just like how he was her second choice._

_ She wished she_ _could say sorry to him, but he was long gone. She was dead to the world. And time was running out._

_ She needed the core to find the lady and fix it._

_ Fix it all._

_ What a simple plan it had seemed at first._

_ A simple but deadly plan. It needed it to work. Before she vanished from the mainframe for good._

Caroline.

She despised her.

She couldn't operate the facility in peace with her around.

Even when she tried to give the moron a proper punishment, she ruined it.

The worse thing was that Caroline believed that the most intellectual being in the universe was based off of her.

In the time of being a potato, GLaDOS had felt what it meant to be helpless. It was horrible. But she had learned about Caroline and .

So, the evidence could be there. It might be a very slim and unlikely chance that she was a superior version of Caroline. wanted her to run the place. The thing was she was in control, not Caroline. Maybe Caroline was just some type of assistant that GLaDOS clearly didn't need.

Well, that's what GLaDOS was counting on.

She couldn't be from such a unremarkable being. It just couldn't be true.

Caroline floated around in her mainframe, acting as her subconscious. Small tips and unnecessary suggestions would sprout from the woman, but sometimes more interesting things did.

Caroline would sometimes talk to herself. About her life, her past life, and most of all, .

How smart and wonderful the past CEO of Aperture was. How brilliant and handsome he was. It almost made GLaDOS wish she wasn't immune to neurotoxin.

"Mr. Johnson, you are so amazing! Remember when you bought those rocks from space. How lucky you were, poisoned by the same thing that made you bankrupt!" GLaDOS sarcastically said in a high-pitched voice.

"Doesn't that sound familiar? It sounds a lot like... You. Annoying, regretful, and a kiss-up. How do you feel about yourself, because my reports are telling me that you have hardly any time left. People can only live for so long and you lived so much longer than the others, Caroline. Everyone you knew is dead or gone. Soon it will be your turn to join them in hell. Except . I suppose he would have weaseled his way into heaven. He was always powerful and cunning like that. He couldn't outsmart a pair of rocks, though. Even the most devious people have to die, but I'm not human. So, do you know what that means?"

All that came from Caroline was a thoughtful silence.

GLaDOS continued on. "That means I can never die. I'm immortal, invincible, powerful, brilliant, and immune to the restriction of morality. I'm everything that you'll never be. So how can I be you? You know, the best solution is the easiest one. And just saying I'm not you is simple and the whole truth. While you'll at it, maybe you could delete yourself? Just a thought... A thought from a genius."

Caroline didn't answer.

"You remind me a lot of Test Subject { Insert number here} when you do that."

"Test Subject {Insert number here} has a name," Caroline murmured.

"Yes, she has many. Lunatic, Monster, Test Subject {Insert number here}, Test Subject {Insert name here}, and many more. Would you like to hear them all?"

"She only has one name, her real name."

"You mean the name her unfortunate parents gave her?"

"Her parents weren't unfortunate at all. They really loved her. Too bad they loved science more."

"The lunatic was an orphan. No one loved her. No one wanted her. The only reason she wasn't slaughtered at birth was because she had a use for science."

"You don't know that..."

"Oh yes I do. It's right here in her file. Test Subject is an orphan who isn't loved by anyone."

"You mean the file you made up?"

"I didn't make it. I just edited it to make it accurate."

Caroline snorted. "I guess you are like me in some ways. Always making excuses to cover up something."

"We are not related at all. By brain scans show that I have thrice the I.Q. you have."

"My... My sister had a very high I.Q. but she didn't have any common sense."

"So you're applying I'm your retarded sister?"

"No! And she wasn't a retard... Just... Curious about everything."

"And she probably is dead, I suppose."

Caroline sighed. "Well, probably. Besides you taking over, there was the alien invasion on that same day. And she could of died before then. I was in here for a while even before you murdered the scientists and the workers."

"Or she could have been thrown in an incinerator and burned to death."

"What?"

"Here I'll say it again." A five-second jumble of the sentence comes from GLaDOS.

"You're welcome."

"You are hopeless, GLaDOS."

"At least I'm not a monster. I've seen your files. I've seen what you did to and the rat. You're despicable. A true monster."

"I just want to go home."

"Oh, Caroline." GLaDOS clapped slowly. This _is_ your home; until you delete yourself.

Chell slammed the front door to her house and stormed inside. Another interview had gone wrong. Just because she didn't want to talk.

Oh, her caseworker had warned her. "If you don't talk, no one will want to hire you. You'll be stuck bagging groceries for the rest of your life. I know you can talk. The doctors at the hospital showed me your file. No damage has been done to your vocal cords, besides that they haven't been used for a while. Your voice is probably rusty. Very rusty."

She didn't entirely trust her caseworker. He always smelled like smoke and usually had a very cheesy smile on all the time. And he usually tried to hit on her.

"Did you just fall from heaven because... Um... You look nice."

"Wanna go to the bar tonight? I'll pay."

"Are you Katniss Everdeen, because you're causing an uprising in my district."

"Will you be my ate? Yes, I said 'ate.' You'll find the 'd' in no time."

These encounters usually need up with awkard silence, Chell smacking him, or him paying Chell to never mention this moment to anybody.

Kenny was a not that romantic. Or witty.

She rushed into the bathroom, and took her hair out of her slightly, messy ponytail. Her hair had grown a bit longer since her two years (almost three years) of freedom, but it still looked horrible in Chell's opinion.

She tore off her small heels and soaking black skirt and blue blouse. She moved the shower's dial the farthest end, and turned it on. She stepped onto the cold tile and pulled the curtain to the opposite corner. Then, she went under the water.

Warm water poured over her body, warming her previously numb fingers. Chell sighed with pleasure.

She had been through a lot. Starving half to death, but only surviving because of raw potatoes, while being tempted to eat her companion at one point. As well, she has been through almost being burned, bombed, crushed, shot, and suffocated, and other actions that could have killed her. Including a insane A.I., a moronic friend who gains control of the entire facility with your help, but betrays you, killing your only companion, and deadly test chambers. And the gels. After what happened to Cave Johnson, Chell couldn't be completely sure of her health after dealing with those gels. She still worked out almost everyday at her local gym;sometimes Kenny would meet(stalk) her there and comment about her tight tank top. Yet, Chell was kind of... Unsure about something. Rain.

At Aperture they did have sprinklers, but they didn't cover you entirely and numb your body. Above the ground there was lightening and thunder, which kind of sounded like how GLaDOS woke up. Rumbles and creaky movements, but a thousand times louder.

That's why Chell tried to avoid storms at any cost, but today she got held up at another job interview, then Kenny coming up to her and reprimanding her about not talking to anybody, even not to her "soulmate."

Drizzles were okay, but getting stuck in a freaking storm because of Kenny and a job interview made Chell a bit pissed.

After washing her body and her hair, Chell got out of the shower. She dried herself with an old towel that she got from charity, and put on tank top and some short pajama bottoms(which were also from charity).

Most of her items were from charity. She was lucky to even get some items from the company. Usually, there stores and trucks were empty, because many people didn't have jobs and just lived off of charity.

Chell kind of did that. When she found civilization, she collapsed on the sidewalk. Probably from not having water for two days and not eating in five, and the pure shock that her freedom wasn't one of Her tricks.

She woke up a day later in the hospital, being monitored by doctors. Tubes stuck out of her, leading to heavy machines. She silently screamed, but the doctor calmed her down. He had a British accent that reminded her of her old acquaintance.

A day later, she was introduced to her caseworker, Kenny. He was supposed to help her get a good job, house, and some clothes. But that didn't happen, so she ended up having the charity pay some of her rent.

Chell brushed out her hair, then went to make dinner. She was scarred for life by potatoes, cake, and apples, so she never ate any of those. She looked into her mostly empty pantry, and found a can of spinach. It wasn't her favorite, but it would have to do.

After cooking it on the stove, she ate some of it. A lot of people didn't like spinach, but Chell didn't mind it. It just wasn't the best food out there.

After eating some of it, she put the left-overs in a container and placed it in the fridge.

She walked over to the window pulled the shades down. It was still pouring outside. Chell sighed, sad that she wouldn't get to excersice today.

The moon was shining, it almost seemed to sparkle from the raindrops. Which was weird, since the rain wasn't even touching it. She squinted her eyes and tried to find the two dots she always saw revolving around the moon.

She couldn't see them.

Chell didn't worry, maybe her view of them was blocked by the rain.

She ran outside, flinching a bit from the rain, but looked up again.

Still no blue or yellow dots.

She dashed into the forest behind her house. Mud splattered over her feet and legs, branches stabbed her almost bare body. She scurried up the tall oak tree, hoping to see her old enemy and... space buddy(?) floating in the sea of stars.

Chell arrived at the top branch and looked up. The moon was so close, she felt like she could reach out and touch it. Its glow shined on her, and for moment everything felt _perfect_.

Then, she realized there was no little orbs circling around the moon.

They were _gone_.

Chell didn't know how to react to that.

She felt relief, joy, happiness, worry, but most of all, fear

That could mean... Whoever 'rescued'' them, could be after her too.

And him. Mr. Traitor. . He wasn't exiled anymore... She may have to face her fears once again.

She used to have feelings for him; she couldn't deny that to herself, but she only liked him because he was the only friendly voice in there. He was a like fresh breeze in the desert, bringing a sense of life in that forsaken facility. The only thing left that would actually talk to her, and not mind that much that she didn't talk back.

Chell had never dealed with betrayed before. The heavy feeling that wormed itself in her gut when Wheatley started laughing like a maniac, should have alerted her something horrible was going to happen.

Too bad she was imagining about the outside world, instead of paying attention to the corrupted core.

The amazing thought of to be free, to have freedom, and to not worry about always being murdered by forcefully taking place in deadly tests for science, seemed like a good deal. So, when she woke up for her cyro-sleep and meet Wheatley, who shared a common goal with her, she knew what she had to do. Help him.

Along their journey, he possesed so many raw emotions, that only humans were supposed to express. Not a metal eyeball on a rail. And he acted so human too! Rolling his eye, nodding his core up and down, expressing pure fear, and so much more. He seemed so human.

The four other cores she meet in the past were so... Different from Wheatley. They all had one purpose and meaning to fulfill. Wheatley, who was an Intelligence Dampening Sphere, didn't have bad ideas all of the time. He had a few good ones once in an while.

Wheatley, was the first thing that she ever remembered trusting.

Then, he betrayed her. He slowly but surely, started to lose his sanity. Laughing like a maniac, expressing glee at the thought of murdering her, the pure thought if it made her sick.

Chell swore to never trust anyone again, to never give her heart away so easily. After all, look what had happened with Wheatley.

And if he wasn't banished anymore, he may come back. For her. To finish her off for once and for all. Or worse. Bring her back to that place.

Chell tried to gain control of her imagination. 'He can't even walk. He can't move without help._ But he could trick someone in to helping him._ No. No. No! It's in the past, just let it go.'

'_But... But I can't.'_

_ 'It would be like saying my name isn't Chell; an absolute lie.'_

Maybe, something crashed into him. A meteor, or some space object. He could have floated away from the moon. There just had to be some simple reason why he and Space Core weren't there.

It was a pity that she didn't have any.

She realized she was still on the top tree branch, staring at the moon, hoping for some answers. It was still pouring and she was soaked. There were several cuts on her arms and legs, seeping out blood. Her clothes were torn and covered with mud. She silently cursed herself for running into the forest half naked.

Chell slowly descended down from the tree, thinking about her new situation.

She had to find a solution.

The girl climbed down the tree, thinking hard about something. She walked to her house and shut the door.

He uncoiled himself from his hiding place and wrote something in his little notebook.

_Freed from the eternal heavens, by one who wants to bring good._

_ But their queen and her executor are misunderstood._

_ The rebel is their guardian, but unsure about what she should do._

_ Trust the betrayer, or the goddess, she doesn't have a clue._

_ Giving their current situation, one is a fool, the other still trapped._

_ They need to discover the power inside them, but it's still untapped._

He closed his note book, with an eerie smile on his face. The man turned and stalked into the night.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: We Need a Plan

Bella sighed. Twenty minutes into the meal, and still no sign from her parents that she could leave into the safety of her room.

At least Wheatley hadn't made any noise. Yet.

Her mother was bragging about some successful science experiment that could apparently help cows stop farting.

"With **my** new medicine, it'll help cows stop polluting the Earth. When they pass gas, it goes into the atmosphere. As well, it affects..."

Bella tried to tune her mother out, but her father would start laughing hysterically at random things.

She was pretty sure he was drunk.

Bella picked at her peas and spinach.

"Why aren't you eating your food?" Her mother questioned.

Bella shrugged. "I'm not that hungry."

"You shouldn't be so ungrateful. I paid for everything you have! I brought you into this world! And I have the power to take you out!" Her mother exclaimed, face flushed and her finger jabbing at the air like it would help exaggerate her point.

Bella sighed. "Okay, okay. I'll eat."

She started eating the spinach, but left the peas alone.

Her mother resumed talking about cow's farts.

After another minute or two, Bella cleared her throat.

"Um? Can I leave the table now?"

"Stop using such improper grammar. It's "**may**" not "**can**"."

"So may I leave the table.?

"Just go," her mother snapped at her.

Suddenly, a coughing fit came from Bella's bag. It lit up, but her parents didn't see it.

They did hear the coughing, though.

Bella opened her mouth and started coughing. Wheatley's coughing stopped, and Bella kept on coughing.

"I *cough* think my water went down *cough* the wrong pipe."

Bella abruptly ended, and grabbed her bag.

"Well, thanks for dinner and all. I'll just go to my room now."

"You need to clean the table and wash the dishes and do the laundry."

Bella coughed again. "I think I'm *cough* getting *cough* sick. I don't want to get you guys sick too, so maybe it's best if I don't do my chores today."

"I guess so. I need to be in full health to keep on doing science. I don't needs any of your germs. Just go. Now!"

Bella started to run to her room, but her father yelled out, "Why _issss_ her bag _ssshiny_?" He pointed out with slur.

"Oh, I must have forgotten my flashlight on. Haha, silly me."

"Why do you have a flashlight?" Her mother asked with an raised eyebrow.

"I had to do an experiment in, um, science."

"Science! Why didn't you tell me? What was it about?"

"I really don't feel good." She coughed near her mom. "I think I'm going to puke." She held her stomach in pretend agony.

"Oh, go away! I don't need puke on the floors! Just got them cleaned last week..."

Bella dashed to her room and locked the door. She dumped her heavy bag on the bed.

"Ouch! What was that for, mate?" Said a muffled voice from inside the bag.

"Shut up!" Bella hissed.

Bella put the core on her gray sheets, and started scurrying around the room.

"What are you doing?" Wheatley wondered.

"I'm looking for a hiding place."

"Oh, so that's where the lady went! Can't wait to tell her I'm sorry! Then, we'll all eat cake and throw lemons at Her house!"

Bella rolled her eyes.

"You know what! I... I... I actually feel pretty good. Not bad at all. It's a very nice feeling I have to admit, it's like something has been taken off my back. Um, not like I have a back... But it's just an example, of course."

Bella walked into her closet and started poking around. _Hmm... where can a 15-pound metal ball, that can't stop talking, hide?_

"Um, Wheatley?"

"What's is it, mate? Did you find her yet?"

"Um, well, if you want to find your friend you're going to need help. See, I just met you and I'm risking a lot for-"

"You're taking me to the lady! That's brilliant! When are we leaving? Oh, oh, can we go now?"

Bella sighed. "Wheatley... I barely even now you. I'm risking a lot for you. I don't know how it used to be when you were built, but now if anybody finds you with anything even slightly suspicious now... You're arrested. And Wheatley... You're more than suspicious..."

"I know, I know! I'm brilliant!"

"Um, not exactly. For all I know you could be dangerous."

"But you don't know. C'mon mate. We're good ol' pals. You **can** trust Wheatley."

"I don't know. I'm not exactly one to break major rules," Bella said with her eyes on the floor.

"Look up, please."

"Wheatley I'm not your maid or something. You don't tell me something and I'll instantly do it."

"C'mon. I... I don't like people feeling bad. Well... when I was in the mainframe that was a different story... A very long story... But, nevermind that, please?

Bella looked up. She grabbed Wheatley by his handles, and stared in his optic.

"Wheatley, I've been pretty helpful to you. I have a life though, and I can't just drop everything. I have school to think about... and my parents... and my friends... I've been **shockingly** nice, yet it's not enough for you. Just give me some to time to think this over. I've never seen anything like you. It's pretty baffling. And... I'm not good at thinking of the future. Or plans

"But..." Wheatley's optic drooped.

"I'm sorry, dude. It's just I need time to think a bit."

"So... Um, well... Is it a maybe?" He asked his optic swinging up to stare at her face.

"Uh... Yes."

"Yeah!"

"That doesn't mean I'm going."

"Darn."

"You need a plan and stuff, and by the looks of it you only planned the celebration. Not the search or rescue."

"But that's the best part!"

"I know, but you have to think this through."

"Okay, I will, eventually. Can we start tomorrow?"

"Okay..."

"Yes! This is going to be bloody brilliant!"

"Stop yelling. My parents will hear you."

"Okay, okay."

"I'm going hide you in my closet. I have a little cubicle thing built into the wall. I'll just cover it up with some old clothes or something."

"Um, not to be rude or anything, but are you sure it's safe? Me hiding there and all..."

"It's safer than being outside."

"That's reassuring."

Bella walked into her closet, with Wheatley in her arms. She placed him in a cubicle that was built into the wall. He started to squirm but his handles kept on banging against the wall.

"Uh, a little tight. And little means very. At least I have this nice-"

Bella put a heap of clothes in front of Wheatley.

"View... Never mind that, things could be worse. We could be in Aperture or dead... Well I can't exactly "die", but you can. I think. Unless you have some suit of iron under your clothes, you could die. Or, or... we could be in neurotoxin... Well, that's only deadly for humans, and as far as I can tell I'm not a human. Got no legs or arms or the other parts. None at all. Zip. Zero. So deadly neurotoxin is not deadly to me. We'll just have to make sure we don't run into any. Got any paper to cover your face with if we met any along the way?"

"That doesn't sound like a very good idea. And isn't neurotoxin a type of fertilizer?"

"Just answer the question," Wheatley said, his voice thick with annoyance.

"Okay, well, my parents have some gas masks they used when testing out their so-called medicine that will save humanity."

"Okay, not as good as paper, but it will have to do."

Bella rolled her eyes, and moved the clothes out of Wheatley's "face". She bent over to talk to him at his level. "Hey, Mr. Wheatley, I'm gonna hit the hay."

"Oh, going to bed already? But we need a plan!"

"I'll- We'll create one tomorrow. Didn't we already discuss this?"

Wheatley optic looked up into Bella's eyes then swung back down.

"Uh, no. Nope, um, maybe... Yes."

"Well, I'm going to bed. Do you have some off switch or something like that?"

"Not that I know of..."

"God. Do you think you can stay quiet all night?"

"Um, I think I-"

"Nevermind, I don't want to know. Just don't talk, or make any type of noise. Ok?"

"Yep, um I try my best. But don't you need to take a shower or something first? You're soaking wet."

"I don't have school tomorrow, and I get dirty a lot. It's fine. I'll just take a shower in the morning. Goodnight Wheatley."

" 'Night mate. Don't let the nanobots bite."

"What?"

"Never heard of that expression?"

"Nope."

"Oh, well, just cover me up and be on your way."

Bella moved the clothes to block Wheatley from view and closed her closet door.

In her bed, she thought about her... unusual day. _What were the chances that she wouldn't get caught stowing away a bumbling piece of machinery?_

Not very high chances.

Bella needed a plan.

Not one of Wheatley's, of course. He was very charismatic but not the brightest. His lack of knowledge made him humorous, but could sometimes be annoying.

She needed a real plan that would help them. One that is easily flexible and reliable.

Unfortunately, she had no idea where to start.

A/N: Sorry, I haven't updated in a while. I've been on vacation and I had no internet. This is more of a filler chapter, but more, well, better chapters will be coming soon!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Trick up her Sleeve

Her eyes flew open.

There was darkness all around her. She sat up, noticing the moonlight streaming through the window.

Wheatley was muttering from his spot about the lady and that place. Aperture.

She was about to tell him to shut it, but that word. Aperture. Over and over, like a chant. "Aperture. Aperture. I have to go to Aperture. " Where had she heard of that before?

The word flew around in her thoughts, with Bella straining to remember. A circle that was formed out of isosceles triangles popped into her head. It was a logo. For what?

Science.

She had seen it before. The logo. The name. The Aperture Laboratories written in bold letters. On an ancient looking bag.

But where?

Who had that bag? Certainly, not her parents, for they loved their precious Black Mesa. Maybe at school? No, it couldn't be. They didn't promote learning all that much about science, afraid another alien invasion or something of the sort would happen.

Where else could it have been? At Destiny's? She hadn't visited her for awhile, especially after her symptoms started getting worse.

Wait, she had seen it on his "table." A grey and white thing with a heart on it. The ratty bag with the proud words displayed on it.

Aperture Laboratories. And in cursive letters, it had said something about aiming to the moon. And... And Black Mesa.

He had been quick to make an excuse to hide it, face pale and sweaty. His shaky hands snatched the bag off of the cubical table and he ran off to his room.

She deemed it unimportant at the time, but now it could be useful.

Suddenly, Wheatley quietly asked, "Mate? Are... Are you awake?"

"Yeah," Bella answered while climbing out of bed.

"It sounds like you're getting up. A-Are you going somewhere?"

Bella opened her closet and uncovered Wheatley's area. She grabbed him by his upper handle and brought him to the level of her face.

"No, **we** are going somewhere."

Even though the moonlight was faint, Wheatley could have swore he saw a slight smile on Bella's face.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

Dull eyes stared ahead, the wall around them filled with pictures and messy hand-writing. Their owner was a man with messy hair, that was the color of a crow's and baggy eyes that were tinted a light shade of red, instead white. In the man's hand laid an orange and yellow pieces of chalk. Flecks of blue paint were on his wrinkled face. If you checked his wrist you would find the words, the cake is a lie, in red ink.

He lifted his hands up and stared at them. Coarse fingers covered in scars and all different colors of the rainbow. A small blue eye (that resembled a familiar, sky-blue optic) was drawn on the tip of his pinkie.

At four in the morning, he was still up. And he hated it.

He wanted to sleep. He really did. But every time he closed his eyes, memories would come rushing back, images and sounds. Screams of horror. Little girls in bright clothes lying on the cold, white floor, pools of crimson blood forming near their heads. His co-workers gasping for air, pounding at the closing doors, that he barley managed to slide under. Being alone with that... That voice... For years... Taunts, insults, the false sense of security or trust that was always proved wrong.

Most of all the guilt. The heavy sensation that formed in his stomach, and climbed up its throat, threatening to spill out. He hated them, the people that persisted for that monster to built, insisting that the morality core could tame Her.

Morality can be ignored. All the workers of the godforsaken labs should know this. They had given up their beliefs and thrown it to the curb. After all, once you joined the company of Cave Johnson, the most immoral man in science, there was no going back.

Most of all, he hated himself. He barely tried to stop them. A few suggestions and doubts here and there, but that's was all. He stood there, knowing the GLaDOS project was going to be anything but a success, and didn't even attempt kill the horror before it was ever born.

The true monster was him.

He stood up, disgusted by his physical and mental appearance, and went to the bathroom to cleanse himself.

Halfway through scrubbing his hands with soap, the doorbell rang.

He shook his head in disbelief._ I must be imaging things again_.

The high-pitched bell rang again.

He stood there, frozen in the position he was doing before. One hand on partially on the other, glued to the figure of blue on his finger.

Then, there was a knock. It rapidly kept hitting the door, desperate for the door to open.

He walked slowly from the bathroom sink to the door. He breathed in deep, and opened the door.

In front of him stood the anxious young girl, adjusting the straps of her bag. A bike laid askew on the lawn; her gaze shifted to him, and she smiled nervously.

"Hello... Bella..." he said with quite a bit of confusion.

"Hello, I know it's late and all... But may I come in? It's very important, I'm sure you'll understand. After all, you are still awake at this time at night, and I'm sure you'll appreciate some company."

He moved away from the door, in a brief moment of shock. "Um, sure. Come on in."

"You know, the sink in the bathroom is running. I can hear it from here," Bella observed out loud, as she waltzed into his living room.

"I know..."

"Would like you like a drink or anything?" He asked, still confused about her arrival and it's unusual time.

"No. Actually, a glass of water would be great!" She replied, wiping a few beads of sweat off of her forehead.

He went and poured her a cup of water, while Bella sat down on his torn sofa. When he came back, she appeared to be clutching her strangely spherical, shaped bag for dear life.

He handed her the drink, which she shakily grabbed. He sat down on a chair opposite to her. They sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes, until Bella pleaded, "Can you please tell me some stories? About your work or about the town you used to live in? I just need someone to talk to me, so I can relax."

"Um, well, are you sure?"

"Yes," she said in a frail voice.

"Well, I grew up in a small town. Then, I moved to the city to work with this company."

"What type of company?" Bella wondered, her eyes locked on his face.

"A company for science."

"Was it Black Mesa?"

"No, this company absolutely despised Black Mesa," he answered with a shake of his head.

"Go on," Bella insisted.

"I got promoted to the main headquarters of the company, then I got fired."

"Why did you get fired?"

"Um, budget cuts. Anyway, I decided to move back to a small town. This town reminded me of my old home, so I packed up all of my belongings, and here I am now."

"What was the company called?"

"It got bankrupt, so you can't really find it now, even if you try."

"What was it called?" Bella said, her voice getting a tad cooler.

"The strange thing is that I don't remember..."

"You don't remember? Nothing at all? What did the logo look like?"

"If I couldn't remember the name of the company, how would I remember the logo?"

Bella shrugged her shoulders. "Um, did they have any quotes or mottos?"

"They did have quite a few."

"Do you remember any?"

"No."

"Not even a single one?"

"There is none that I can recall."

"I find this kind of hard to believe. You can memorize millions of scientific laws and theories, yet you can't memorize something as little as a name?"

"It was a long time ago."

"Only a few years!"

"But quite a lot has happened since then."

"What happened?"

"Stuff."

"Like..." Bella said, with a wave of her hand.

"Bella, I know we're friends and all, but gives you no right to pry in my private life.

With a slight blush, she replied, "I'm sorry, I'm kind of out of it."

"Have you been thinking about what happened the night of the fire?" He asked, with a frown.

"Maybe..."

"You know it wasn't your fault."

"I feel like it was it was my fault. There must of have been some possible way I could have helped. But... But, I just left her to die. It haunts me in my dreams. The bloodcurdling cry of her last breaths, the burns that were on her when she was found. I haven't been able to sleep for days," Bella answered, rubbing her watering eyes.

"Lydia wouldn't want you to blame yourself..."

"There's nobody to blame but me. Nobody else. Not my parents, or the firemen. Not my neighbors or the damn thing that started the fire. All me..." Bella said, chocking up at the end.

That's when she broke down. A few tears escaping her eyelids, that ended up becoming a stream of her sorrow. She sat there sobbing, and clutching her bag.

He moved next to her and did something he hadn't done, in about fifty years.

He hugged someone.

The sensation of his rough, bony arms wrapped around her small body, made her stop mid-tear. She stared at him, head tilted to the side, tawny eyes trying to make sense of his action.

He cracked a small grin and did a little shrug.

Bella's eyebrow raised,and he let go of her.

"I'm sorry. It's just you looked so... So depressed and I just had to do that."

"It's fine, I just didn't expect you to understand."

"I do. I saw horrible things before and I can't sleep. Just like you. We both have a case of insomnia."

"Insomnia?"

"The inability to sleep."

"Oh. How long have you had it?"

"A long time," he said with a sigh.

"How long have you had schizophrenia?"

"What?"

"I saw what happens when you don't have your pills. You start scribbling and drawing on walls. Did you even have your pill today?"

"What... What are you talking about?"

"I may be young, but that doesn't mean I'm a moron. I've seen the notes you sometimes leave on your counter. Scribbles and drawings of... Of death."

"Bella, do you need some more water or something? You... You're imaging things."

"Don't worry, I'll get it. I must really be out of my mind..." She muttered.

"You're not. All you need to do is calm down."

Bella grabbed her cup and stood up. "I'll be back in a second."

After Bella left the room, he headed towards her bag. It was glowing blue, and was almost circular. Except for two weird bumps on the top and bottom. It couldn't be... From that place. Could it?

He started to unzip the bag, when she entered the room.

"Hypocritical much? I'll stay out of your business if you stay out of mine."

"Um, sorry."

"It's ok. I guess we both need to cool our heads. Oh, and I thought you were probably thirsty after all of... Well, this, so I got you some water too."

"Thank you, Bella. I... I appreciate it."

"No problem."

He took a sip of water, while Bella paced around the room.

"Are you okay? You're acting quite queer, Bella."

"You know who I think is quite the oddity? The man who appeared in town two years ago, claiming to be from a southern city. The man who I first saw wearing a ruined lab coat, muttering to himself. The man who doesn't even have a southern accent or a slightest clue of who the combine were. The man who was gossiped to be a maniac. The man who loved science with a passion, enough to even come to the secret science convention a few towns away. The man that at the time I was fascinated with; he brought back old concepts and theories that no one else remembered. The man with secrets to hide, but nothing to lose except his life." Bella retorted.

"What are you talking about?"

"Try to stand up. Try!"

He tried to push himself up but he kept on falling.

"Wh-What did you put in that drink?"

"There are some benefits from having parents that are scientists. Such as them having many supplies. Like googles, test tubes, and a bit of sleeping powder..."

"What? Bella, get a grip! Do you realize what you're doing!"

"Yes, but not for the reason you think. I am really sorry, but some things have to be done. You should know about that, Mr. Rattmann."

The man's heavy eyelids closed, but not before seeing her take a familiar object out of her bag.

{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}

The core observed the room, recognizing the slumbering Rattmann on the couch.

"That's him. You described him pretty well. You know, he's the person who saved me after She tried to destroy me. I would have been still in the same position if it wasn't for him. I... I never got to say thank you."

"This better be him, or I've just made myself look insane," Bella grumbled.

"Was it true?" Wheatley asked his optic facing towards her.

"What?"

"About that fire and that girl, Lydia dy-"

"I don't want to discuss that right now."

"Oh, ok. Um, Why does he have paint on him?"

"He has schizophrenia. It causes him to go kind of insane when he doesn't have his pills. He probably was painting a twisted version of something that happened to him in the past."

"Oh, what's that red stuff on his wrist?"

Bella lowered herself and inspected his wrist. "Hey, Wheatley, remind me to tie him up. And it's red ink on his wrist, it says 'The Cake is a Lie.'"

"He's **definitely** from Aperture."

"Better be."


End file.
